Murder With My Husband - 228. The Killer Yogi

Starting point is 00:00:00 You're listening to an Ono Media podcast. Hey everyone, welcome back to our podcast. This is Murder with my husband. I'm Peyton Morland. And I'm Garrett Morland. And he's the husband. I'm the husband. If we sound different, if we look different, it's because we are in a different studio right now.

Starting point is 00:00:14 But hey, we're here. We're recording and we're so excited for another episode. It's because we are different. Yeah, we're different. We're built different. Oh, no. Thanks, everyone. We are in a different studio, different place.

Starting point is 00:00:28 We were traveling. kind of, right? Yeah. Whatever you want to call it. Thanks for being here. Just a reminder, we have our Patreon and our Apple subscriptions. If you want ad free content and bonus episodes, we do two bonus episodes a month and all of the content is ad free. Okay, wait, before we jump into your 10 seconds, you need to address all the comments about the tipping that you talked about on last episodes 10 seconds because people, they were rallying for you.

Starting point is 00:00:56 I feel like there's not really much to rally about. It's pretty black and white. Yeah. Right? Yeah. Like you just hit people when you're at a restaurant and that's that. I'm curious. I'm waiting to see if I get any different opinions yet because so far there hasn't been

Starting point is 00:01:12 really many. Yeah. Other opinions. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. I don't know. What you got for this week? So a couple of things.

Starting point is 00:01:21 A couple weeks ago, I didn't even address this. Peyton and I were driving and I got points. Pulled over. Remember that? I was going 40 and a 25. It looked like a normal road. Am I right? I wasn't crazy for doing that.

Starting point is 00:01:35 No. And then we saw these lights and I went, all right, pulling over, pulled over, didn't give me a ticket. I don't know. What do you think? He just didn't give me a ticket. It was surprising. Well, we told him we weren't from there.

Starting point is 00:01:46 And that road doesn't look like it would be 25. No, not at all. And then we asked if we could take a picture for the podcast. That was after he didn't give us a ticket. Right. If he gave a ticket, you still would ask? I probably would have asked and held the ticket up. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:02:02 I'm like, hey. But no, he was pretty cool. Didn't give us a ticket. I'm surprised he didn't give us a ticket. You do. Maybe he just felt the vibes. Yeah. Maybe the vibes were good.

Starting point is 00:02:10 The next thing was, if you saw on Instagram, if you didn't see on Instagram, you're just listening on audio here. I was waxing my nose the other night. I have a mustache now. It's not like super big, but I have one, right? Yeah. And I got wax stuck. in my mustache.

Starting point is 00:02:29 Like a lot of wax just stuck. And I didn't know what to do. A whole glob. I was freaking out. So I posted on Instagram right away. I said, what do I do? Everybody, like dozens and dozens of people were just like, use oil, use oil. And it worked.

Starting point is 00:02:42 Like you just paint and put some oil on my mustache. Rubbed it around and I don't know. It came right out. No hair. No hair. So I was happy because I thought I was going to have to go and shape my mustache, which wouldn't have been the end of the, Daisy. Daisy's looking the tailor right now,

Starting point is 00:02:58 which wouldn't have been the end of the world, but didn't have to do it. So recap, tip people at restaurants. Don't put wax on your mustache and... Go the speed limit. Go the speed limit. That's what I got. All right.

Starting point is 00:03:11 Let's get into the episode. Our sources for this episode are ABC's 2020 statesman.com, NBCNews.com, APNews.com, WCAX.com, grandfondo guide. com, Fox7Austin. com, CBC. California, the Austin American statesman, the Mariah Wilson Foundation, the guardian.com, cycling news.com, CBSNews.com, CBSAustin. Fox News and Wikipedia. If Peyton and I, again, are a little off, voice sounds weird, we sound weird, maybe we're not

Starting point is 00:03:43 viving. We're just so used to being in our studio. And so it's so different when we're not. I know. And it's like the vibes, you guys. Like, I know you, you can't see unless you're watching on YouTube, but like, Garrett and I record in the dark and the red light and it's very murdery and moody. And like right now we're in like an all white studio with fluffy white pillows and it's like now I'm supposed to, it's just weird. I don't like it. Talking about murder. Yeah. Okay. So in all the years of doing this podcast, we've seen a lot of different motives for committing murder. I would say the main ones have been like money, drugs, revenge. But one of the most timeless, age-old classics, is that Shakespearean trope of killing out of jealousy,

Starting point is 00:04:30 particularly when it comes to love. Now, love is a powerful weapon, something that's been causing even the most level-headed people to act irrationally for centuries. But back when Shakespeare was writing or other stories about lust and betrayal, there was no social media. There was no tracking apps and there was no fleeing to Costa Rica to get facial reconstruction surgery. And those are all things that the antagonist in today's story used to commit her crime and then to try and escape it. But it's clear that our villain didn't read Shakespeare because if she did, she might know that his stories typically don't end well. And I'll just say

Starting point is 00:05:16 Hers doesn't either. This is funny that we're doing a case on this because just yesterday we were in the car, this is going to sound so bad. I don't think I can say it. Say it. Just yesterday we were in the car and I was like, I don't understand anyone killing anyone. Like I don't. I don't get it.

Starting point is 00:05:34 But this is a very, very minusical, very small butt. I could see why someone kills someone out of like jealousy. Or anger. Or anger. Like, I can't see it, but there's a very small butt where I can see it. Well, because it's like, I don't know. I don't know. Maybe people in the podcast.

Starting point is 00:05:57 This is going to come off so bad. I think I'm just trying to. No, we're not justifying any murder and all murder is wrong. I'm just trying to understand like, okay. Putting yourself in their shoes. I guess so. I don't know. F me.

Starting point is 00:06:11 I'm insane. I'm just, I was just kind of expressing my thoughts. Well, no, what got us on the conversation is that maybe people listening haven't felt this way. But like, have you ever been so angry? Like, so angry to the point where you are being irrational. Like, you are saying irrational things. You are doing irrational things because anger has just, like, consumed your body. Like, to the point where it almost feels like your spirit kind of leaves and it's just like your brain on autopyce.

Starting point is 00:06:45 at that point. We were talking about how like I've felt that before, Garrett's felt that before. And then that's when he said, do you think that's what people who kill out of anger? Like, do you think they get to that point? And then because they had the ability to kill, they just like did it. That was a lot better way to explain it. Yeah, exactly. The fact that when you're angry, you do irrational things. And people who are that angry do something irrational. I'm not excusing it, but people do rational things. Yeah. And they're angry. And it's interesting. Now, I'm not saying, when I'm angry or Garrett's angry, we would have the ability to kill someone or the capability. I don't feel like I want to kill someone.

Starting point is 00:07:22 But it's almost like when you get that angry, you're like if someone is kind of like this type of person where they don't care and they're kind of a bad person and they get this angry. That's a straw that's going to break the campus back. Right, right. I think that's what, yeah, yeah. Okay. So our story today starts with a little girl named Anna Mariah Wilson or Mo, as her friends called her.

Starting point is 00:07:44 and we will also be calling her Mo. So born on May 18, 1996, Mo grew up in Kirby, Vermont, to a family of proficient athletes. And almost before she could walk as a baby, Mo was skiing and cycling. Growing up, Mo dreamed of competing in the Olympics one day as a ski racer.

Starting point is 00:08:07 And with her father, a champion skier and coach, the goal actually did seem like very within reach. Mo trained her butt off for most of her youth, even attending Burke Mountain Academy, which was a prep school in East Burke, Vermont that specialized in alpine skiing. So she literally went to school basically to become an Olympian. But even with her drive, ambition, and focus, everyone who knew Mo said she was someone who always had a smile on her face, an insatiable hunger for life. Mo knew when it was time to work and when it was time to play. And she managed. to balance both of those things incredibly well. By her sophomore year at Burke Mountain Academy, Mo was ranked third for her age nationally. That's insane. But around that same time, Mo actually suffered an accident that would inevitably change the course of her life forever. And that year, she tore her ACL. Like, she's third in the nation. That's like the worst thing you could do, man. I know. She managed to bounce back and get back in the game, even getting into Dartmouth College,

Starting point is 00:09:14 in 2019. And there she fulfilled a childhood goal of hers getting onto the Dartmouth Alpine ski team. But her dreams of one day competing in the Olympics did fall short after she tore her ACL a second time while in college. Okay. So after several more months of rehab, Mo's skiing career, it just, you can't come back. Like, it just wasn't the same, which is when she turned to another early athletic pursuit of hers, and that was mountain bike racing. So she was like, okay, I can't do the skiing anymore. I'm going to move on. And soon she was finding her niche in the sport. It was a more nuanced kind of cycling called gravel racing. And it was in this that Mo realized her true calling. So after graduating college, she opted out of a full-time job to pursue cycling as her

Starting point is 00:10:07 career. And she began competing nationally and won so many races that sponsors were actually flocking to her. She was making money doing this. By 2022, the 25-year-old Anna Mo Wilson was at the height of her success. Those who followed the sport believed that she was about to enter her biggest year yet. She was even scheduled to compete in the migration gravel race in East Africa that summer of 2022. But before she flew east, Mo had another big race in Texas where she was easily favored to win. So in May of 2022, Mo flies down to Austin to stay with her friend, Caitlin Cash, for a few nights before this big race. And keep in mind, Mo is my age. We were born in the same year.

Starting point is 00:10:57 So she's around my age back in 2022. And Caitlin, her friend that she is going to stay with in Texas while she competes, is a fellow cycler. and she had met Mo during a race in 2021 and had gotten closer with her over the last year. And apparently, Caitlin was pretty close with Mo's family as well. Like they met a year earlier and kind of just immediately clicked. So on the afternoon of May 11th, Caitlin texted Mo's mom, a picture of Mo staring at her bike with the message. Your girl is in safe hands here in Texas. So like this 20-year-old Mo goes and visits her friend Caitlin, and Caitlin actually,

Starting point is 00:11:35 snaps a picture of her and sends it to her, her, and sends it to Mo's mom and says, hey, she got here. She arrived. Like, we're good to go. Yeah, it's not weird. It's normal. Yeah, competition is coming up. Yep.

Starting point is 00:11:47 But little did Caitlin know. That could not be further from the truth. At around 5.30 p.m. that day, Moe said she was going to meet up with another friend that she knew in the Austin area. And it was a guy named Colin. And it sounded like a date, like she was going to go on. a date in Texas. So Caitlin made her own set of plans for that evening. And then a few hours later, at around 8.30 p.m., Caitlin got a security alert on her phone that Mo had made it back to the house.

Starting point is 00:12:19 I don't know if this was like ring doorbell or a camera or whatever, but she realized that Moe was done with her date and back home. So Caitlin just kept her night going. But around 10 p.m. when Caitlin got back to her place to meet up with Mo, she found her door was still unlocked. So she walked inside. She started calling Mo's name, but no one was answering. So she made her way towards the bathroom,

Starting point is 00:12:43 and that's when she saw blood all over her bathroom floor. Oh, my gosh. And Mo was lying there unresponsive with several gunshot wounds to her head and chest. Excuse my language. Well, and I think this is so confusing, because this is Caitlin's house. Like, Mo is just a friend who's come to visit and now she's dead in Caitlin's bathroom.

Starting point is 00:13:06 And also isn't saying how one second everything's normal. Mm-hmm. Like she got there. Caitlin sent a picture to her mom. Five hours later, she's in the bathroom with several gunshot wounds. Yeah. So Caitlin fumbled for her cell phone shaking as she called 911. Oh, gosh.

Starting point is 00:13:23 And she explained to the operator what happened. And the operator begins walking her through how to perform CPR. and Caitlin pulled it together and managed to follow the instructions, focusing everything she had on trying to get her friend to start breathing again. Yeah. But less than 15 minutes later, first responders arrived at Caitlin's house where they pronounced 25-year-old Anna Mo Wilson dead. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:13:47 I mean, several gunshot wounds. Right. Yeah. So at this point, Caitlin is beside herself, as you can imagine. Just hours ago, she was telling Mo's mother that her daughter was safe. And now she's going to have to call her mother and say, I don't know how, but like your daughter has been shot in my bathroom in cold blood and she's dead. I couldn't make that call. I think I would make the cops or someone else do it. There's no way.

Starting point is 00:14:10 So to investigators immediately, it's clear it's a homicide. There were shell casings on the floor, but there was no murder weapon left inside. And later her autopsy confirmed Mo was shot three times twice in the head and once in the chest while she was already laying back down on the floor. So as she was on the floor, she was shot in the chest, which was what caused the police to say, this didn't really feel like a robbery because like once Mo was already down, the person shot her again in the chest. It was definitely out of anger. So they're like, this seems personal, especially because there was only one object taken from this apartment. And it was Mo's prized possession. It was an extension of her.

Starting point is 00:14:52 It was her bike, her racing bike. Okay. So next, police started knocking on this. neighbor's door to see if they saw or heard anything. I think it's important to clarify it's in an apartment. So it would like neighbors technically should have heard the shots. You know what I mean? That's what I'm surprised. If she got shot multiple times, you would think for sure somebody hears that. So 47 year old David Harris, who lived next door to Caitlin, said he was home at the time, but he had heard nothing, which made investigators wonder if the attacker had used a silencer. I was just going to ask that.

Starting point is 00:15:24 But David says what he did hear was footsteps running down. around the time of the murder. And what sounded like the spokes of a bicycle clicking through the back alleyway away from the apartment complex. But again, whoever came here and committed this crime didn't just come for the bicycle because later that night, the bike was found only 60 feet south of Caitlin's apartment. It had literally been ditched like near some bamboo.

Starting point is 00:15:51 So whoever took the bike from the apartment, then just like ditched it 60 feet away and left it there. How does it make sense? So luckily, investigators were able to get some security footage from the neighbor's camera, and it provided them with one very useful clue. Only a few minutes after Mo walked back into the door, a black Jeep arrived and seemed to kind of be circling the apartment, which is weird, right?

Starting point is 00:16:17 Like there's a black Jeep circling the apartment at around the same time that she was killed. So when police spoke with Caitlin that evening, she gave them the name of the last person to spend time with Mo. She's like, hey, I mean, the reason I wasn't with Mo was because she was on a date. The guy she went on a date with was another professional cyclist and Austin resident, a man named Colin Strickland. Now, depending on who you asked, some said Colin was the first real big celebrity in the world of gravel racing. But by 2021, just as Mo was on the rise, Colin was kind of starting to phase out of the sport. He was winning fewer races. He was competing less and less. And Moe was like the up and

Starting point is 00:17:00 comer. You know what I mean? This is so interesting because I'm sure anyone that knows mountain biking like knows this. Yes. It knows about this. But I've never. I mean, until you did the research, you probably've never heard about this. No, no, no. So when the 35 year old Colin met Mo at a race in Idaho the year prior, he saw himself in Moe, who was this like up and coming rising star in their community. And the two instantly clicked. So Collins 35 and Mo is basically 25, 24 at the time. Around November or December of 2021, Colin and Mo actually did have a quick little fling, but the timing just didn't seem right for either of them. So Mo called it off and dedicated herself solely to her career. But come May of 2022, she knew she was going to be visiting Collins hometown. She was going to be in Texas.

Starting point is 00:17:52 She figured, why not reach out? See if you. he wants to meet up, maybe for old time's sake. And turns out he did. So on the afternoon of the 11th, Colin swung by the apartment on his motorcycle and he picked Mo up. They went out for an afternoon swim at a public pool. They had some dinner. And then Colin dropped her back off at the apartment at around 8.30 p.m. And so hearing this, police knew they had to find and speak with Colin. And by the following morning, so May 12th, they were showing up at his house with a whole lot of questions. I mean, you're essentially the last person to see her alive at this point. So when they got there, Colin was actually already outside.

Starting point is 00:18:32 And they just walk up to him and they ask him flat out. Do you know who Anna Mariah Wilson is? And strangely, Colin is like, no. Do you know, Anna? Mo. In info. Yeah. Everybody calls her Moe.

Starting point is 00:18:50 Last night is Wilson. Grider. She's a, uh, uh, uh, Oh, yes. Gravel rider. Never heard of her. No freaking way. Which is insane because, like, you're a racer and she's a racer.

Starting point is 00:19:00 You 100% know her, even if you're trying to say you didn't have a flame. If you were the last person with her, like, they're going to find out. You can't, you can't hide that. Right. So police are like, dude. That's insane. Dude, we already know the history of you guys. Like, we know that you are both racers, that your big names in the community.

Starting point is 00:19:19 Like, what? So this is a red flag. But that's because Colin doesn't. call her Anna or Mariah and most people don't. So he says it takes him a minute to realize they were talking about Mo. Okay. They say do you know Anna Mariah Wilson? And he's sitting here going, I only know Mo Wilson. So that's why he says he didn't recognize it. And so when they tell him, okay, well, Mo was found dead in her friend's apartment the night before, Colin does look genuinely shocked and devastated.

Starting point is 00:19:53 There's another red flag. Remember that black jeep that was like circling the apartment on the neighbor's camera? It's his, isn't it? It's literally sitting in the driveway. Okay. So the police ask him to come down to the station for questioning and he agrees. And then he spends the next six hours answering questions. Colin tells them everything he did with Mo the day before, including the fact that he dropped

Starting point is 00:20:14 her off at 8.30 p.m. on his motorcycle and that he never stepped foot inside the apartment. and that he didn't see anyone else lingering around when he left. And so the police eventually called us out. If he dropped her off by motorcycle, why was his car circling around the apartment around the same time? That's true. And that's when Colin drops a pretty big bomb on them. He's like, what?

Starting point is 00:20:42 And they're like your car. Like it's on footage driving around her apartment around the same time. And he goes, wait. That's not my car. That Jeep in my driveway, it's not my car. It's my girlfriend's car who lives with me. No freaking way. Okay, so maybe Colin is completely innocent here.

Starting point is 00:21:02 Maybe he's just a little bit of a playa. Or he was just going out with a friend. That's crazy. An old friend, an old acquaintance. Maybe they didn't even do anything. Maybe they didn't kiss. And he really does live with his girlfriend. Could you imagine being in that moment and thinking?

Starting point is 00:21:15 What? Oh, wait. Like, you're definitely putting two and two together. of I dropped her off on my motorcycle and then minutes later, my girlfriend's car was circling her apartment and then she's going to end up dead. And she's dead? You're just like, oh, I know what happened. So his girlfriend who lives with him is named Caitlin Armstrong. So just to clarify, this is a different Caitlin than the one that Mo was staying with. Remember we have Caitlin Cash who she's staying with. This is Caitlin who is a yoga teacher and real estate agent who'd grown up in Michigan.

Starting point is 00:21:48 in. People described her as quiet but smart, fun to be around seemingly happy, especially when she finally moved in with her on again, off again boyfriend of two years, Colin Strickland. Now, Colin and the 34-year-old Caitlin even started their own business together called the Will House and they were just renovating old trailers. And Caitlin was also a part of the cycling world, although she was nowhere near the point of success that Moe and Colin had reached. But those who knew Caitlin and Colin said their status always seemed like a little murky. They were the couple that people weren't really sure. Were they together? Were they not? Are they just business partners? Are they roommates? Are they going to get married? Every day the answer kind of seemed to be different.

Starting point is 00:22:34 And apparently back when Colin and Mo had their fling in 2022, remember they met and then now they're having a little fling, it was actually an off period for the couple. So Caitlin and Colin had called it quits. Colin starts dating Moe, and then Mo breaks it off with Colin, and Colin goes back to Caitlin, and then they're on again. And this was part of the reason

Starting point is 00:22:56 it actually never amounted to anything between the two, because he was still on and off with Caitlin. So still, as we know, Mo and Colin stayed in touch, even when he was back together with Caitlin in the following months, they remained friends.

Starting point is 00:23:09 And obviously, because they're going to be seeing each other at races, like they're both big names in the industry. It makes sense that they're going to stay in touch. And I need to clarify for Mo, like even after she breaks it off with Colin, she's never really sure where him and Caitlin stand. Because I think Colin kind of left both of them in the dark. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:23:30 Because he was kind of dating both around the same time. He wanted options. Yeah. And so he kind of left both of them in the dark about what was going on. Now Colin says on the night of Mo's death, nothing happened between them. It was purely platonic, just two friends catching up. But he clearly knew it was wrong because he changed Mo's name in his phone to something different, hoping that Caitlin wouldn't find out that they had been talking and we're going to go out and hang out.

Starting point is 00:23:57 But he offered up a few other details to the police. On the night of Moe's murder, Caitlin came home at around 9.30 p.m. in her Jeep. And a few months prior, Caitlin told him she had a pretty harrowing experience as a victim of road rage. And so he had bought her a gun. So what he's telling police is, yeah, here's the history. I was kind of dating both, like never cheating on one, but like kind of dating both. I lied to Caitlin. She had no idea that I was out with Mo that night.

Starting point is 00:24:25 And yeah, that is Caitlin's Jeep. She came home at 9.30 p.m. that night. And I also did buy her a gun a couple months ago. That's insane. I mean, I'm glad he's not trying to like cover for her. Right. He's just like, no way. Like, F this.

Starting point is 00:24:37 I'm telling you everything. Yeah, yeah. So after hearing this, police executed a search warrant for the house that Colin shared with Caitlin. and inside they find the gun that Colin says he bought for Caitlin. And it's a 9mm and it's a perfect match for the shell casings found at the crime scene. Now investigators have to be sure that Colin isn't just trying to deflect the blame onto Caitlin, right? And the best and maybe only real way to do that is to check his alibi.

Starting point is 00:25:05 Colin says that he was still riding around on his motorcycle at the time that the shots were fired. And luckily for him, police found some video surveillance that. that confirmed he was telling the truth. Wow. So after this, they're like, Kate, it's time to zero in on Caitlin Armstrong. After all, the woman had access to a gun that fit the murder weapon. And if she knew about Mo, then it means that she clearly has motive too. So the police know they need to get her into the station to chat.

Starting point is 00:25:33 And it turns out they have the upper hand because Caitlin already had a warrant out for her arrest at this time. It was over something ridiculous, I want to add. was from 2018, but Caitlin had gone to a place called the Travis Country Spa for a Botox procedure. And when she went to checkout, she handed them her mastercard. It got to Klein and she said, oh, shoot, no problem. I have another one in my car. Let me go grab it. She walks out the the front door and she never comes back. So she just stole $650. She had a warren out for that? Yes. That's kind of crazy. So she stole $650 worth of Botox. Which, I mean, don't steal. And the owners of the spa go to the police. They press charges, which like as they should. I mean, no, it's a business. It's a

Starting point is 00:26:13 kind of crazy. I'd do the same thing. So the owners of... Maybe. So it turns out four years later, that decision would come back to severely bite Caitlin on the butt, basically, because not only does it force her into a room with the detectives working most case, her interview and the behavior she expressed during it actually just nails at home for police that this is their prime suspect. So like in the interrogation room?

Starting point is 00:26:38 Yes. Okay. So when Caitlin was questioned about her Jeep being pictured in the security footage, outside the apartment. She didn't admit to being there, but she also doesn't deny it either. She just rolls her eyes. She gets really frustrated. And she's just like upset that they're even asking her this. Like that's how she's acting. Plus, she was stiff as a board through most of the interview, which two in like investigators is a very giant red flag. And yet she sat there continuing to answer questions with just curt, few word answers. That was until there was a knock

Starting point is 00:27:12 on the door outside. Another detective had come to let the officer know that there was a problem with the warrant they had for her. And it was that Caitlin's birthday was listed incorrectly, which means that technically she's free to go. No way. That's how it works. Yeah, it was a minor technicality that would change the entire course of this investigation.

Starting point is 00:27:31 How do you mess that up, man? But not before police uncovered other wildly incriminating details about Caitlin in the weeks leading up to Mo's death. So this is kind of like when they start totally. learn. They let her go and then they start to learn. They keep investigating and this is what they learn. So it turns out, Caitlin had been keeping a close eye on Mo for a while. Like she kind of been stalking her. Apparently, Colin had not outsmarted Caitlin after all. Changing Mo's name to something else in his contacts did nothing because Caitlin was looking through his text messages on his laptop

Starting point is 00:28:08 where her name wasn't changed. And the text messages were not just platonic messages. They were extremely flirty. So she knew Mo was on the other end of those messages and that Colin was trying to hide it from her. So what did Caitlin do next? Probably what any suspicious girlfriend would do. She starts out by following Mo on Instagram. Oh.

Starting point is 00:28:30 But one thing led to another and each move after got just increasingly dangerous. It's safe to say that Caitlin was slowly becoming obsessed with Mo. soon. Caitlin was calling Moe, threatening her to stay away from Colin. A friend even came forward to say one night she was out with Caitlin at a restaurant when Mo walked in and Caitlin became like enraged by her presence. And when this same friend asked Caitlin what she would do if Colin ever started dating someone else, Caitlin just straight up replied, I would kill her. And this was in a way that made this friend think Caitlin just wasn't even using this as a figure of speech. But the thing that really set off alarm bells for investigators was this. After completing a forensic analysis of Caitlin's devices,

Starting point is 00:29:16 they learned she'd been following Mo's every move. Did, I mean, other people had to have known this? Like, Colin, how to have known? No, Colin doesn't know. So Mo was the only one that knew that she was calling, like had Mo ever said it to anybody else? I'm sure she had told people, but I don't think Mo knew it was to the extent that it was, which is what I'm about to tell you. You also don't think, like, like, oh, this person's just jealous or mad. They're not going to kill me. Yeah. Like that step is so, it's not impossible.

Starting point is 00:29:46 It's just so far above the others. You just think, oh, they're mad. I think Mo just thought, oh, I pissed her off. Yeah. So police learn when they're going through Caitlin's devices that she had been following Mo's every move in the days before her death. And it was thanks to a fitness app called Strava. Strava, man.

Starting point is 00:30:07 Oh, is it Strava? I'm pretty sure it's Strava. Wait. That's the running app. Who's right? Peyton or Garrett? I think it's Strava. I'm pretty sure it's Trava.

Starting point is 00:30:14 So this app is kind of like a social media tool for athletes. It lets you track your workouts, your rides. Usually for those who run and bike. You can post photos. It even documents the routes you're taking. Let's other see those routes if you don't turn your location settings off, which was exactly how Caitlin Armstrong knew where Moe was staying in Austin. So she knew exactly, she knew Moe was at the other Caitlin's house.

Starting point is 00:30:37 because of this app. So the police figured, okay, we have enough to file for an arrest warrant at this point, but when they go looking for Caitlin, she is nowhere to be found. Her Instagram account has been deleted. Her phone has been deactivated.

Starting point is 00:30:52 Colin hasn't seen her in days. And that's because Caitlin was already making her way out of the United States of America. That's insane. Oh. Yeah. Okay. So right after that first meeting with police,

Starting point is 00:31:07 Caitlin went home and she cooked up a plan to get the heck out of Dodge. She was like, I'm in trouble. I have done this and I need to get out. She sold her Jeep to like a CarMax type place for $12,000. She packed a bag. She grabbed her yoga mat and she took off for the airport. Police knew this because they spotted her on airport security a few days later. How is she not on the no-fly list?

Starting point is 00:31:29 Well, because she's not even technically under arrest yet. Okay, that's true. So Caitlin on this security footage has her yoga mat over her shoulder. she has a COVID mask on. Her freaking yoga mat. She's blending in like with the other travelers. Oh, the mask too. Because you have masks on,

Starting point is 00:31:44 everyone blends in. Yeah. So they learned that her first stop was actually her sister Christine's place in upstate New York. And after landing at LaGuardia in New York City, Caitlin hitched a ride to Livingston Manor about two hours away. There, Caitlin met with her sister Christine who lived in a camper van on this giant property called Haven for Humanity.

Starting point is 00:32:05 So the police follow her trail there. And when they get there, they found Christine's neighbor who said, oh, yeah, Caitlin was here, but she actually took off a few days ago. So now police were like, okay, now where is she? Caitlin had taken her sister's passport and booked a flight under Christine's name from Newark International in New Jersey to San Jose Costa Rica. Okay. But that was all the police could really determine. Caitlin could have gone anywhere in Costa Rica once she got off that flight.

Starting point is 00:32:33 And if they were going to get their fugitive back, they were. We're going to have to work with Costa Rican authorities to make that happen. This is just, this is why they say get out of the United States because it's so hard once you're gone. I feel like Mexico is a better place because it's bigger. There's so many more places you could hide. Yeah. It's Mexico, man. So luckily for them, Caitlin had actually chosen a pretty small country to flee to, which is what you just said.

Starting point is 00:32:57 And so she was pictured in that security footage in Costa Rica with her yoga mat. She has the yoga map. Hilarious. So after Caitlin arrived at the San Jose airport, she took a bus down to Haco Beach and then a few days later traveled to another Pacific coast town called Santa Teresa. And she starts settling in there. She goes by a new name, Ari Martin. She gets a room at a little spot on the beach called Don John's Lodge. What is happening?

Starting point is 00:33:26 I mean, honestly, like, if she hadn't killed anyone, it kind of feels to me like she's living the dream. Like she just showed up, changed her name, changed her identity and was like, I'm here. here. Like I'm living in Costa Rica. She at this point for sure is like I got away with this. Oh, for sure. She begins integrating herself amongst the other kind of, it's a place for yogis. So I think that she knew that like she was going to fit in there. It's also surfers. There's surfers in the area. And she starts working shifts at the lodge to pay for her room and board. I mean, like she's actually kind of being smart about this. Begins looking for a more permanent role as a yoga instructor in town. And she even starts dating a guy. who lives there.

Starting point is 00:34:07 I mean, have you seen safe haven? It's a Nicholas Sparks movie? Yes, where she escapes and goes to a small town, starts saying that guy, then her crazy ex-boyfriend comes and tries to kill her. It's a little safe haven, but not in a good way. Yes, yeah, because that ends happy. Well, and also she was running because there was domestic violence happening in her home. On this one, she murdered someone.

Starting point is 00:34:28 She killed Moe, which is horrible. Yes. And while she's doing all of this in Costa Rica, Caitlin starts making subtle changes to her appearance over the course of the few weeks. She has her hair cut short. It's dyed. And one afternoon, she comes in with a bandage on her nose. She's telling everyone that she got clocked with the surfboard the other day.

Starting point is 00:34:49 But the truth is, Caitlin had done this to herself. She had spent $6,500 getting plastic surgery to change her appearance. She got a nose job lip filler, more filler in her face. Literally, she does the works on her face. You need to see a before and after picture. I know. I think we will have one on Instagram and on the YouTube video. So meanwhile, authorities were starting to close in on Caitlin.

Starting point is 00:35:11 So as she's doing all of this and thinking, wow, like I've done a good job, authorities are tracking her. They find that she's created a new Gmail account. And one thing Gmail does is save your search history if you don't opt out of it. So they're able to see everything she's Googling, including what hotels and restaurants she's making reservations at, which leads them to the town. that Caitlin's been staying in. This is how they track her down. So the U.S. Marshals fly down to Costa Rica. They begin going door to door, beach to beach looking for her. They literally go to the small town and they just start looking around. But after a few days in the town, they cannot find her.

Starting point is 00:35:46 So one of them gets this brilliant idea. They're like, dude, she's always traveling with this yoga mat. She's probably been searching for a yoga job. So they go to a little yoga studio in this town. they get them to cooperate and they say, hey, post that you have a job opening for a yoga instructor online. Dude, that is so smart. And who applies? Ari Martin, aka Caitlin Armstrong. And through this, they also learned that she's currently working and staying at Don John's Lodge. How predictable. That's insane.

Starting point is 00:36:17 Yeah. So an officer shows up there shortly after. It's June 29th, 2022 when he approaches the front desk to find a woman with a bandaged nose and swollen lips working behind the counter. doesn't look like Caitlin Armstrong. But once he looks her in her eyes, he's like, I feel like this is the girl we're looking for. And it is her. And while she's distracted, other officials go up and search her room and there they find a receipt for the plastic surgery. They find Christine Armstrong, her sister's passport, along with Caitlin's passport.

Starting point is 00:36:50 Okay, I was going to ask how do you confirm? Yeah, how do you confirm this? This is it. They have their girl. So after 43 days on the run, Caitlin Armstrong, is arrested by authorities and deported back to Texas, where she's formally charged with killing Anna Mo Wilson. Wow.

Starting point is 00:37:04 Good. There, Caitlin's booked into the Travis County Jell and held on a $3.5 million bond. But five months later, Caitlin's looking for new ways to dodge the charges. On October 11th, 2020, she's just two weeks out from the beginning of her trial. And that day, she puts in a medical request saying she is an injured leg and she needs to get looked at. So the deputies take her to a doctor's appointment that afternoon. It's offsite from the prison. And Caitlin makes a run for it. So while she runs. Yes, she takes off in her black and white prison jumpsuit before freeing one of her hands from the cuffs and stripping down to the plain

Starting point is 00:37:42 clothes that she was hiding underneath. She jumps a fence. She makes it about a blocker way or so before she's recaptured by authorities. That's insane. And ironically, the name of the street that she's caught on is Caitlin is Wilson Street. Okay. Which is the last name of the victim. But as I mentioned before, this wasn't a spur of the moment run for it. Caitlin had clearly been working on this plan. This was the detail officials uncovered when they looked back on prison footage of Caitlin who'd been training rigorously.

Starting point is 00:38:10 She was running, doing squats, lifting in the weeks leading up to this. She started to be like, I have to get in shape if I'm going to make a run for it. But she had felled, obviously. And two weeks later, she found herself facing a jury on charges of homicide. And I think at trial, it's important to note that they, like, found DNA on the bike that match. There was a ton of evidence. And after an eight-day trial, the jury agreed that the case was strong. Less than two hours after leaving to deliberate, they were back with a verdict.

Starting point is 00:38:39 And Caitlin Armstrong was guilty of first-degree murder. She was given a 90-year sentence and a $10,000 fine. And she won't be eligible for parole for another 30 years, which means she'll be in, like, her mid-60s. Good, yeah. On May 6th, 2024, most parents filed a civil suit against Caitlin for wrongful death. And on June 17th, the judge ruled in their favor, ordering Caitlin to pay the family $15 million in damages. But she doesn't even have any money. So how does that work?

Starting point is 00:39:06 They know that she doesn't have the assets. It will preclude her from profiting off of anything, which is a big reason why people do this. Okay, that makes sense. So she can't do like a tell-all, a book deal, anything like that. And as for Colin Strickland, he was never charged with anything to do. do with Mo's murder. In fact, he actually released a public apology to the family saying there's no way to adequately express the regret and torture I feel about my proximity to this horrible crime because if it wasn't for Colin, the two girls would have never even been connected

Starting point is 00:39:36 in the first place. And I'm sure he's living with that guilt of, you know, he says he's sorry. He cannot make sense of the tragedy. And since Mo's passing, her family has done a lot to honor her legacy. They've established a foundation in her name devoted to healthy living and community building. And in Kingdom Trails in northern Vermont, there's a hiking trail that has been dedicated to Mo renamed as Mariah's Ascent. But while Mo's memory lives on through her charity and the cycling community, nothing can change the fact that her life was taken far too short. Proving no matter how much mankind evolves, lust continues to be a powerful motivator. And when yielded by the wrong person, it can be a dangerous weapon. And that is the case of Anna Mariah Wilson.

Starting point is 00:40:23 Devastating. And also, you just never expect that that's what someone's going to do, right? You're just like, oh, she's mad. She's upset. It's her explosion, yada, yada, yada. It's insane how much it happens. And it goes back to what we were talking about at the beginning. How that pushes people over the edge.

Starting point is 00:40:41 And, I mean, I think, like you said, it's only a certain amount of people. Like, you have to have certain characteristics and qualities and so on and so forth. You have to be that type of person. You have to be crazy. I don't know what to say. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. I think for sure, like, it's just insane how many times a love triangle creates murder.

Starting point is 00:41:02 Yeah. All right, you guys, that was our case. We will see you next week back in our original studio. Let's go. And I love it. And I hate it. Goodbye.

Murder With My Husband - 228. The Killer Yogi

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